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Zeus
Zeus rules the gods as an Ancient Greek father rules the family. He was the son of Kronos and Rhea, and the King of Olympus. Zeus was seen as a weather god, the sender of rain, hail, snow and thunderstorms, but was commonly perceived as the god of sky and thunder. The Ancient Greeks also knew him as Epiphanes, the Magnificent One, whenever a certain star appeared in the east. His symbol and weapon was the thunderbolt. Zeus is traditionally married to his sister Hera. He was the protector of law and justice. He was also named the defender of the household, property, friendships, the hearth, hospitality, oaths, suppliants, and mankind. It is known that he would punish any who lie or break an oath. Zeus is widely known for his erotic adventures. Over time, he became closely identified with the Roman god Jupiter. The Legend Zeus' father, Kronos, had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overcome by his own son as he had overthrown his own father. In his attempt to overcome this, he swallowed all his children. When Zeus was about to be born, Rhea sought Gaia to devise a plan to save him, so that Kronos would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus and his own children. Rhea’s plan saved Zeus from being swallowed by handing Kronos a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes. She later gave birth to Zeus in Crete. Zeus grew up in a cave on Mount Ida, and was brought up by nymphs. They fed him on honey and the milk of the she-goat Amaltheia, who was perceived as one of the divine. Once he had grown into a man, Zeus forced Kronos to disgorge first the stone then his siblings in reverse order of swallowing. In some versions of the myth Zeus cut Kronos' stomach open to free his siblings. Then Zeus released the brothers of Cronus, the Gigantes, the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, from their dungeon in Tartarus, killing their guard, Kampe. As a token of their appreciation, the Cyclopes gave him thunder and the lightning bolt, which had previously been hidden by Gaia. Together, Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Gigantes, Hecatonchires (Hundred-Handed Ones) and Cyclopes overthrew Kronos and the other Titans; the Titanomachy. The defeated Titans were then cast into a shadowy underworld region known as Tartarus, the deepest and darkest part of the underworld. Atlas, one of the titans that fought against Zeus, was punished by having to hold up the sky. After the Titanomachy, Zeus shared the world with his brothers, Poseidon and Hades. They kept the Earth and Olympus as common property, while Zeus got the sky and air, Poseidon the waters, and Hades the underworld. Gaia hated the way Zeus had treated her children, the Titans. Soon after becoming king of the gods, Zeus fought some of Gaia's other children, the monsters Typhon and Echidna. He vanquished Typhon and trapped him under Mount Etna, but left Echidna and her children alive.